278 



SPORTING PRINTS AND SPORTING 

 PICTURES. 



"To hold the Mirror up to Nature." 



That whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing 

 well, has been so long an admitted maxim that no 

 one attempts to deny its truth : and that to do any 

 thing well we should feel a certain enthusiasm in 

 its pursuit is, in a general way, a fact equally in- 

 controvertible. 



One of the most powerful incentives to reach ex- 

 cellence in any pursuit is the commendation of others 

 at the present moment, and next to that is the hope 

 or prospect of our successful efforts being pe7j?e- 

 tuated. 



There are three classes of persons who can thus 

 perpetuate our acts, be those acts meritorious or the 

 reverse — these are, the writer, the sculptor, and the 

 painter. 



A most common-place circumstance gave rise to 

 the above reflections, this circumstance being no 

 more than a heavy shower of rain. I among thou- 

 sands have often gratified myself by viewing the 

 different prints and pictures exhibited in the windows 

 of publishers of the former and dealers in the latter 

 specimens of talent. The windows of Messrs. Fores 

 in Piccadilly are a temj^tation that, be my hurry what 

 it might, always brought me to a dead stoj) : even 

 the shower I allude to failed to drive me past the 

 fascination of the memorable corner. To the kind 



